After more than two hours of talks on a peace deal to end the largest war in Europe in 80 years, both leaders expressed optimism.
Although both presidents described the talks as "great", Trump reiterated that a key sticking point was the question of territory. He acknowledged that an impasse remains over the contested Donbas region, which Zelenskyy has proposed be left as a free economic zone while Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has pushed to claim the entire region.
"We had a substantive conversation on all issues and highly value the progress that the Ukrainian and American teams have made over the past weeks," Zelensky said, adding that U.S. and Ukrainian teams would meet next week for further talks on issues aimed at ending Russia's nearly four-year war in Ukraine.
Trump praised Ukraine’s leader for his courage in seeking peace and offered to travel to Kyiv to address the country’s parliament in the event of a future vote on land concessions in exchange for peace.